HGP Bonus: Paranormal, if True, is Normal…Right?
If ghosts are real, if a cryptid existed (I couldn’t resist), or a god was fact wouldn’t that cease to be paranormal? The simple fact of its documented existence would transition from unexplained to known or normal, right?
As an atheist I agree with Carl Sagan when he answered a young man’s question during a post lecture discussion at Cornell in 1994. He described a god-concept in many ways to include a “social lubricant” we use to “agree with people we would not otherwise agree.” He identified the god Einstein and Spinoza espoused, the very laws of the universe. By the latter definition yes, I have no problem acknowledging the laws of the universe as a god but not a conscious one.
“Roi fainéant, a do-nothing king”
We are a bundle of electrons that vibrate at sixty-two to seventy-two megahertz (62–72 MHz). Why can’t ghosts be real?
Dismissing one lends no more factuality to the other, it simply implies a closed mind versus one open to possibility. Probably lacks creativity as well, creativity being a pivotal cog in the discovery process.
I’m not suggesting ignoring the scientific method in favor of confirmation bias or unfalsifiable claims. I’m not even remotely suggesting any of these are true but I am at least willing to admit they could potentially be scientifically proven.
Back to my point.
Here’s a thought; what if ghosts are bioelectric echos or persistence that we have evolved to no longer see. Imagine a world where every living thing that ever was and existed’s bio-signature were visible. Society would be unable to function so instead our brain removes that frequency from our perception through evolution.
Bigfoot very well could exist considering the vast number of new species we discover on the regular. Annually eighteen-hundred (ish) new species are discovered each year. While most are small or minor variations of known species it does prove we have much remaining to discover about our own world. An estimated ten thousand uncontacted people, approximately one hundred tribes, exist. Nearly nine thousand years of recorded history went by before we met a group of survivors from Peru who actually contacted us for help. Humans. Our own species and stuff (which does cast serious doubt on the whole universal consciousness theory). Anyway.
How in the literal world did we miss Tham Lot cave until 1984? After discovering that behemoth how did we miss The Eagle in Southern China until 2022.
There are three-hundred forty North Atlantic right whales and the number of African forest elephants is currently unknown despite coordinated efforts to count their population…and the ones searching know the area these massive animals live in.
So, is it hard for me to completely dismiss the idea of a sasquatch? That a bipedal ape somewhere on the evolutionary path between bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans with a similar intellect managed to evade scientific documentation? No, but I am also agnostic to the idea and require imperical evidence to sway my beliefs. I literally need confirmation through multiple sources on a single subject but…I’m not a Scully, I would acknowledge a new species of ape had been discovered. Sure.
Taking that approach to a so-called pseudo pursuit of scientific discovery with an open-minded approach might actually promote actual discovery. Case in point, I am old enough to say SETI has been mocked for more of my life than scientifically accepted and supported. Their approach of patience, meticulous data collection, and following the scientific method gained credibility.
Now, with computer generated images, sound altering technology, artificial intelligence, an unregulated social media makes for a fertile ground of irresponsibility giving honest scientific effort a terrible reputation by association.
I am not a scientist, PhD, MD, or anything. I’m an enthusiast and hopeful communicator of complex things. I want to help teach even as I learn.
Do I believe in a god? No. Do I believe in the possibility of a gods existence? Also, no. Do I believe in Atlantis? No. Do I believe in the possibility of Atlantis’ one time existence? Sure. I mean why not? Evidence exists indicating The Odyssey may actually be a Viking Saga. How is it in 1995 Felice Vinci discovered overwhelming amount of evidence pointing to a Greek tale, overlooked despite being one of the most studied works in history, may in fact be Nordic in origin? Could Atlantis exist? Hell, yes.
Even if it turns out to be an amalgamation of many locations and Plato’s creative license it was still real in a sense. Religion? Science has always disproved religion, never the other way around.
Astrology is another one as impossible as an honest religion for the same underlying reason. The ego involved in an individual’s self-importance being so overblown that a supreme being would prioritize their trivial desires — like scoring in happypoint in sportball — over addressing profound sufferings, such as a child cancer, is a absolute hubris. It is unreasonable to believe stars and planets, which have no significant physical connection to each other— let alone gravitational influence —could impact our speck of existence. No, sorry , not sorry— never gonna happen.
My bottom-line for my fact-focused mind is this; until the existence of something speculative is discounted, a theory most wild is unequivocally dismissed by overwhelming evidence (I’m looking straight at you religion and astrology) keep an open mind. Silence crack-pot charlatans with the use of sound scientific method and reasoning. Not to silence them but to educate and refocus or maybe shame them if they are true deceivers.
Don’t bottle false hope and package it with expensive fraud like religion or Dasani.
Are you aware Dasani isn’t even a real word? It’s a completely fabricated letter-usement they structured, a falsetude like their claim their liquid-death should pass as anything resembling water.
But I digress.
Jason Graves
Thank you for reading. I know time is precious, I appreciate you taking some of yours to, hopefully, enjoy a work that took some of mine. In that, we have shared time together and I thank you.
Please do your own research. I do mine and usually avoid including links to encourage others to begin theirs. Leave comments, especially if you disagree.
To master the art of civil discourse one simply must be kind. I am trying.
